This blog is dedicated to treating everyone - clients, prospects, friends, and family - as valuable partners. We should show them our gratitude through all our actions, including our marketing.

August 25, 2013

Appreciation Marketing – Pushy Marketing

I heard a commercial on the radio
from someone who engaged in what I call “pushy marketing”. What is “pushy”
marketing, and what may the results be? How does it affect prospects, and how
does it effect referrals?

It does not matter what the
commercial was promoting. What was “pushy” was the fact that the person reading
the commercial copy repeated the contact phone number 6 times at the end of the
commercial. I remembered the phone number far longer than the product or
service being promoted.

“Pushy” marketing is obnoxious.
The fact that I heard the phone number in the commercial 6 times became
obnoxious to me. I could not wait for the commercial to end, and next time I
hear the commercial, I will change channels if I can remember it from the beginning.
It was that irritating.

There are other things that can
cause marketing to be termed “pushy”. The announcer may have a grating voice or
manner. The message may be irritating to the listener, or maybe it continues
too long. Try listening to your message as if you were a prospect and see how
you react to what is said and how it is said.

When you are speaking in person to
someone, you must notice how they respond to you, either verbally or with their
body language. You must be aware of what the prospect tells you with their
eyes, their hands and arms, and their posture. Are they shifting uncomfortably
in their chair, are they looking away from you, intentionally breaking eye
contact, and do they fold their arms across their chest?

When they indicate that they are
not interested in your message, do not increase your volume or make the tone of
your voice more demanding. You cannot shout or argue anyone into becoming a
customer. You will turn them into lost prospects quicker through these actions.
You also will not gain referrals from your actions. You must keep calm, and
never become argumentative.

While meeting with someone recently, I acknowledged an
acquaintance who stopped by my table and engaged me in conversation after my original
meeting ended. This person represents a product that I do not desire to
purchase due to the fact that I already am a client of a different company with
a superior product.

He attempted to market to me and would not “listen” to every
response that I “sent” to him. I stated that I was not interested in his
product, and he made me feel very uncomfortable when he would not “listen” to
me. I almost left just to make him stop trying to market to me. Finally he had
to leave to meet someone else. Making your prospect uncomfortable will not
result in gaining a new client or new referrals.

What is your marketing message and how is it delivered? Are
you “pushy” to the point of making your prospects so uncomfortable that they
want to “turn you off”? Do you listen to your prospects, including their gestures
and other actions? Please leave your comments here, or email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com,or call me at 360-314-8691. Look at
your marketing from the viewpoint of your prospect and ask yourself: “Would this make me
so uncomfortable that I would walk away from this person?”